Paper Plane

Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi

001

The first time he laid his eyes on him, never did he know that he was such a clumsy person; a walking disaster—someone whom he rather not get involved with. Ever.

"My name is Kuroko Tetsuya. Pleased to meet you, Akashi-kun."

The boy had no extraordinary features; his built was smaller than his, he had a fair—like, a very fair, unblemished skin, and much to his amazement, those depthless, big sky blue eyes of his—a rare color one ever had—boring a hole into his; it was like, from the way he stared unblinkingly at him, he was scanning him thoroughly, and his matching blue hair was somehow a distraction; Akashi thought he would be really easy to spot when he got lost because of his strikingly shiny, weird blue hair that'd surely stand out in the crowd.

And, above all, his face was void of emotions—it was like his facial muscles never twitched in any way; his expression was never changing even for the slightest bit, Akashi could've known it from the moment he opened his mouth.

"The pleasure is all mine." Akashi managed to respond with a small smile. He just hoped he didn't sound sarcastic; he was submitted to this job a little unwillingly, after all. Swiftly, he cocked his head back to the bookshelves, eyes roaming around a bunch of books presented before him as he asked, "So, Kuroko, what subject do you think is hard enough for you to understand?"

"Actually," Kuroko's hesitant, tiny voice brought Akashi's attention back to him, "I can't really understand all of the subjects—but I can make sure I'm exceptionally good at Japanese literature." he exclaimed; his expression remained the same, although Akashi saw him fidgeting, looking a bit unsure.

What? Akashi groaned inwardly. Really?He seemed pretty smart, though, but then again, the way he'd said that he couldn't understand all of the subjects... was a wake up call for him; he couldn't just assume without knowing someone whom he'd just met. And, seriously, did he have to meddle into this boy's studies, like, from today onwards until the exams week had started—which in another word, everyday?

"Alright. How about... we start?"

He actually didn't sign up for this; earlier during the morning practice, his rainbow-haired friends blocked his way with pleading eyes—only Kise, actually—and asked him to be the tutor of their best friend (childhood friend, Midorima had corrected them), whom Akashi had never seen for even once, because he had such awful grades and Akashi was the only one who could help him with his amazing brain. And he, being Akashi, couldn't reject their hopeful stares, of course, so he was—not so willingly—accepted their request.

And here he was, in the school library, on a drizzly afternoon after the classes had ended—they had been arranged to meet each other after school, and Akashi was glad that his friends weren't coming; they'd only cause troubles rather than helping, with his rainbow-haired friends' supposed best friend trailing after him who was looking for the first year's textbooks—Kuroko was in his first year of high school—while trying to remember the lessons he'd been learning in the past year. It was lucky for him that he was good at remembering something that'd happened.

He wondered, why Midorima wasn't the one they chose to tutor Kuroko; Midorima was one of the smartest students in the school and besides, wouldn't it be easier for Kuroko to be taught by his close friend? Were Kuroko's grades that bad that Midorima had given up on him?

Akashi glanced at Kuroko who, to his surprise, had his eyes on him. His expression was composed; he was born without facial muscles, Akashi presumed. Doubtfully, Akashi's lips moved upwards into a soft smile, as he wasted no time for Kuroko to say something because he'd sharply turned his back on him again, slightly embarrassed upon being caught staring.

But, still, Akashi couldn't stop observing the boy.

He'd noticed that Kuroko, indeed, barely showed any expression, and that Kuroko's balance was a bit... off. He'd stumbled on his own foot several times, dropped the books he was supposed to carry—with Akashi helped him collect them all, and repeatedly bumped into Akashi's back. He was, despite his unchanging expression, surprisingly a clumsy boy.

They ended up sitting in one of the tables near a huge window that was displaying the scenery of the empty school yard, a stack of textbooks piling up in front of them, as they sat next to each other; Kuroko sat by the window, occasionally glancing out to nothing in particular, and Akashi had to wave a hand in front of his face twice to get his attention back; Kuroko got distracted so easily.

Another thing that Akashi had learned about Kuroko, which he hadn't expected at all, that Kuroko was quite... stupid? No, the right word was: he was an airhead, even much more stupid than Aomine. And he wasn't joking at all. Judging from his grades that Midorima had shown him earlier, he was simply bad at studying, but Akashi couldn't believe that he was actually that bad. He began to doubt it that Kuroko even studied at home.

"Kuroko, you got it wrong again." Akashi pointed out for the fourth time, and Kuroko looked up to him with an exasperated expression. Really, he should be the one who got exasperated because of him. They'd been in the library, learning about Math as the opening of their tutoring session, for about an hour, yet Kuroko still didn't get what he was explaining.

With a monotone voice, Kuroko replied, "But I did what you were asking me to do, Akashi-kun." he was being defensive. "How can I get it all wrong?"

"You should be placing this on this." Akashi moved his mechanical pencil around Kuroko's notes, holding back the urge to let out a loud sigh; sighing in front of someone was rude.

"Ah," Kuroko blinked, "Right. I forgot." he scratched the back of his head, gazing at Akashi sheepishly—albeit Akashi didn't know how he pulled off that kind of expression under his blank mask. "I'm sorry, Akashi-kun."

"How can you forget it when I just explained it to you like a few minutes ago?" How can you be this stupid? Akashi hadn't meant to be impolite, but the words came out just like that without him intending to. He was afraid that Kuroko would get offended by the hidden meaning in his words, but instead, Kuroko looked at him blankly, unfazed.

"Then, will you explain it once more, Akashi-kun? I still don't understand."

Okay, he took back his concern; Kuroko was an airhead, after all, and he wouldn't understand what he tried to imply as much as he tried to make him understand.

Trying to bite back the moan, Akashi repeated his words all over again. He felt like banging his head against the wall.

He only wished he would have much patience left.

For the time being.

With Kuroko around.

/

"Akashi,"

Looking up from his notes quickly, Akashi found a frowning Midorima staring down at him while holding out a handout towards him, "Ryuuhei-sensei asked me to deliver this to you."

"Ah, thank you, Midorima." Akashi offered him a smile, and the other just shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's nothing."

It was lunch break and he'd brought himself to the rooftop with a pile of books, and a bento. He didn't have much time to review what Kuroko had to learn at home because he had to do the papers his father had given him, and he also needed to study and did his assignments in order not to make his own grades dropping low. He still had the responsibility to always be the number one, after all.

And so, he spent the rest of his lunch break alone—away from everyone else.

"Anyways, what are you doing here?" Midorima asked out of the blue, although he was being a tsundere, Akashi knew he was mildly curious. After all, he usually spent his lunch break with his rainbow-haired friends but now, he decided to eat lunch by himself.

"I'm reviewing all the materials Kuroko has to learn later."

"Oh," the greenhead said, "Thank you for not taking Kuroko lightly. It's not like I care about him or anything, I merely don't want those idiots to whine nonstop if Kuroko failed in the upcoming exams."

Akashi was back scribbling on his notes. "It's fine. I promised you all to help him, so I might as well do my best." he then looked up again, "But, something bothers me, to be honest. Why aren't you the one teaching him? You're one of the smartest people I know in this school. Besides, you're his best friend."

"Childhood friend," Midorima corrected him, looking a bit embarrassed. "Kuroko is special. Only someone like you who can help him."

"That doesn't sound right." Akashi's frown deepened, "And, really, Midorima, are you sure this childhood friend of yours is really already in high school? He is very... how to say this—"

"—stupid?" Midorima finished off for him helpfully, adjusting his glasses as he continued, "Of course he is. Because, whenever he's in his class, he hardly pays any attention to the teachers."

Akashi was surprised at the new information. "And nobody scolds him? Ever?"

"Hmm."

"He should've been dropped out of school."

"Sometimes, Akashi," mumbled Midorima, "things are better left unsaid; some things are meant to be kept as secrets."

"What do you mean?"

Midorima only looked at him for a few seconds, shrugging. "The bell is ringing, we should go back to our classes." he turned on his heels as he bid him a goodbye, "See you later, Akashi."

The loud bell slowly faded into the background, and Akashi was left hanging, too confused of what Midorima had just told him.

Were they keeping a secret from him?

/

Akashi was half-running when he went through a sea of people to the library. He unconsciously took his phone out and looked at the time—he was already thirty minutes late than the time he and Kuroko had agreed to meet up after school. Would Kuroko be mad because of his tardiness? He hoped not. It wasn't like he intended to be late; he had a meeting to attend and he couldn't postpone it just because he should tutor Kuroko, right?

When he slid the library door open, he was greeted by the sound of a loud thud coming from the back of the library, attracting the attentions of the students in there. Curious, as well as concerned that Kuroko would be the one behind that loud sound because after spending time to time with Kuroko, Akashi realized he tended to be clumsier than he had thought, Akashi followed the students that'd made their way toward the source of the commotion, and he was right; Kuroko, indeed, was the source of it—books scattered about around him, and he was sitting on the ground, dazed, but his face remained the same.

"Kuroko?" Akashi's tone betrayed his mind to hide his worry. Quickly, he walked over to him and squatted down in front of him, staring at his dazed expression. "What are you doing? What happened?"

Kuroko, seemingly had come back to his right mind, blinking at Akashi. "I was trying to reach that book," he pointed out to one of the fallen books, "when suddenly, almost all of the books from the shelf fell off."

Akashi frowned. A walking disaster, indeed. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"No," but Kuroko winced as he reached for his forehead; there was a fresh cut on it, probably because some books had hit him and he didn't realize it. "Ow."

"Does it hurt?"

"A little. But I'm fine—" Kuroko's words stopped halfway when the tip of Akashi's index finger touched his cut softly. He winced at the contact, but more surprised at Akashi's sudden action than the pain on his forehead. "Akashi-kun?"

"You're so reckless." murmured Akashi, so soft that Kuroko thought nobody, despite the crowd that surrounded them, would hear it other than himself. His fingertip brushed past his cut gently, examining it.

"Thank you." Kuroko responded rather too quickly—it didn't come out as a sarcasm as he'd intended, but he was glad that it didn't come out as a stutter; Akashi's face was too close that their lips would meet if any of them made a move and it made his mind go blank.

They stared into each other's eyes for a long minute, before someone—neither of them knew who—let out a cough, making both of them shy away and the redhead quickly got up, feeling stupid of what'd just happened, but he offered his hand to Kuroko, anyway, although his face was turned to the side, obviously avoiding his gaze.

Kuroko took his outstretched hand and was pulled back on his feet as the crowd had slowly gone, murmurs could be heard and he pried his hand away from Akashi's. "Thank you, Akashi-kun." he bent down to retrieve back the fallen books to their place.

"Hmm." was all Akashi's respond before he mirrored Kuroko's movement, again, helping him clear out something his clumsy side had caused.

Kuroko didn't know if Akashi was really kind or he was merely being nice to his friends' friend.

But, even so, he just hoped he would never forget Akashi.

Ever.

/

The squeaking noise made by a chalk on a chalkboard was the only thing that could be heard in Class B. The teacher, who was sitting on her desk, and the students in the room were amazed, shocked even, when Kuroko Tetsuya stood in front of the class as he resolved a math problem. Although he looked as blank as ever, there was a hint of smile on his typically expressionless face.

Of course, who wouldn't get shocked? Kuroko Tetsuya was known for his empty brain; he was repeating a year and was stuck as the oldest among his classmates. He was always in a daze during classes, didn't seem to understand what the teachers were explaining, and also, because of his illness, he couldn't focus well and concentrate on whatever he was doing, causing him to be the stupidest in his class.

"Wow, Kuroko-kun! You've improved a lot!" The teacher clapped happily, her smile was so wide that Kuroko thought her lips would rip off in anytime soon.

Smiling slightly, Kuroko bowed, "Thank you, sensei,"

"Did you take my suggestion to hire a personal tutor?" she asked in curiosity. Her eyes beaming.

"Yes."

"Who is someone who's capable to make you get better, I wonder?"

A little proudly, Kuroko answered, "Akashi Seijuurou."

Several gasps, whispers, and murmurs were heard when Akashi's name was mentioned, making Kuroko raise an eyebrow. Was Akashi that popular that he caused that kind of reaction when it was only his name that was being mentioned? But, why did he only meet Akashi a few days ago? He wouldn't even have known that there was someone like Akashi if his childhood friends didn't introduce Akashi to him once he asked them to find a tutor for him.

Kuroko only shrugged and decided to go back to his seat when suddenly, his body felt numb. His vision went blurred and everything suddenly became dark for him. His muscles weakened and he would fall on ground, if his classmates weren't quick enough to catch his limp body.

Kuroko lost consciousness.

/

a/n: this is supposed to be a one-shot but I wrote too much words to be considered as a one-shot ;;;;; so I decided to divide it into two or three chapters! I will update it as fast as I can, I promise! and please bear with grammatical errors because English isn't my first language and thank you for reading! ^o^